Integrated all-silicon thin-film power electronics on flexible sheets for ubiquitous wireless charging stations based on solar-energy harvesting

Liechao Huang, Warren Rieutort-Louis, Yingzhe Hu, Josue Sanz-Robinson, Sigurd Wagner, James Christopher Sturm, Naveen Verma

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

With the explosion in the number of battery-powered portable devices, ubiquitous powering stations that exploit energy harvesting can provide an extremely compelling means of charging. We present a system on a flexible sheet that, for the first time, integrates the power electronics using the same thin-film amorphous-silicon (a-Si) technology as that used for established flexible photovoltaics. This demonstrates a key step towards future large-area flexible sheets which could cover everyday objects, to convert them into wireless charging stations. In this work, we combine the thin-film circuits with flexible solar cells to provide embedded power inversion, harvester control, and power amplification. This converts DC outputs from the solar modules to AC power for wireless device charging through patterned capacitive antennas. With 0.5-2nF transfer antennas and solar modules of 100cm 2, the system provides 47-120μW of power at 11-22% overall power-transfer efficiency under indoor lighting.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2012 Symposium on VLSI Circuits, VLSIC 2012
Pages198-199
Number of pages2
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 28 2012
Event2012 Symposium on VLSI Circuits, VLSIC 2012 - Honolulu, HI, United States
Duration: Jun 13 2012Jun 15 2012

Publication series

NameIEEE Symposium on VLSI Circuits, Digest of Technical Papers

Other

Other2012 Symposium on VLSI Circuits, VLSIC 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityHonolulu, HI
Period6/13/126/15/12

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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